Blackcurrant bush
How do I plant a blackcurrant bush?
The blackcurrant is an easy fruit bush to grow in your garden. To plant it in the ground, choose a sunny or semi-shaded spot with well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Avoid soil that is too chalky. You can plant your blackcurrant bush in autumn or spring, before the first shoots appear.
Create a hole twice as wide and deep as the root ball of your blackcurrant bush. Add compost or well-decomposed manure to the bottom of the hole. Carefully place the root ball in the hole and cover with soil, packing lightly. Water thoroughly after planting.
To transplant a blackcurrant plant already in a pot, choose a larger pot than the previous one and fill it with special shrub compost. Make sure the drainage hole is clear. Carefully transplant your blackcurrant bush, keeping as many roots as possible. Water generously after transplanting.
The blackcurrant bush requires little maintenance and can produce fruit from the second year after planting. Mulch the base of the shrub to retain moisture and limit weed growth. Prune regularly to encourage fruiting and aerate the shrub.
What is the best size for a blackcurrant bush?
When pruning blackcurrants, it is important to distinguish between three types of pruning: training, maintenance and fruiting. For training pruning, it is advisable to prune young plants from the first year of planting, keeping 4 to 5 vigorous, well-spread branches. For maintenance pruning, dead, diseased or tangled branches should be removed to encourage the circulation of air and light within the shrub. Finally, fruiting pruning should be carried out at the end of winter, shortening new shoots to 2 or 3 eyes to encourage fruit production.
It is important to know that blackcurrant fruit appears on one-year-old wood. It is therefore essential not to prune branches that bore fruit the previous year, to ensure a good harvest. By following these pruning tips, you'll be able to take full advantage of your blackcurrant bush's growth and production, without needing to use chemical fertilisers.
How do I harvest blackcurrants?
The blackcurrant bush is ready to harvest at the end of summer, usually in August. To harvest the berries, simply pick them by hand, gently detaching them from the stem. Make sure the berries are black and ripe before harvesting, as they do not ripen once picked.
It is recommended to harvest blackcurrant berries in one go, to prevent them rotting on the shrub. The berries can be kept in the fridge for a few days, but it's best to process them quickly into jam, syrup or even freeze them for later use.
It is important not to use chemical fertilisers on blackcurrants, to preserve the quality of the berries. Choose natural, environmentally-friendly gardening methods to grow your blackcurrants and enjoy delicious, tasty and healthy berries.
Blackcurrant bush
- Type : Fruit trees
- Botanical Family : Grossulariaceae
Characteristics
- Exposure : Partial Shade
- Frost Hardiness : Frost Resistant
- Cultivation Difficulty : Easy
- Adult Height : 150 cm
Maintenance
- Maintenance : Moderate
- Water Requirements : Moderate
Seeds
- Soil Type : Humus-rich
- Soil pH Preference : Neutral
- Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
- Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
- Weed Sensitivity : Low
- Pollination : Insect-pollinated
- Propagation : Cutting